'BSY's predecessors too allotted land illegally'

Documents show that Congress and JD(S) CMs were also involved in the illegal practice.

advertisement

Headlines Today Bureau

November 26, 2010

UPDATED: November 26, 2010 16:46 IST

File photo of Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yeddyurappa.

Even as Karnataka Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa has been under fire for shady land allotments to his close relatives, he is not the only leader of the state to have obliged his friends and associates, as he has himself claimed in his defence.

The main opposition parties of the state -- Congress and JD(S) -- who have been baying for Yeddyurappa's blood on charge of nepotism, too indulged in the illegal practice. Documents pertaining to such deals involving several former chief ministers were dug out by news weekly Tehelka. Headlines Today is in possession of those documents that show the land scam has been running in the state for over 20 years.

Congress's former chief minister Dharam Singh had allotted sites to 15 people, who worked as his personal staff, while External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna, when in charge of the state, had obliged a man who is now his officer on special duty.

Yeddyurappa, in his defence to land allotments to his sons and some others, had said, "I followed in the footsteps of the chief ministers before me." And he was not lying.

Apart from Krishna and Dharam Singh, Yeddyurappa's predecessor H.D. Kumaraswamy, who has been heading the campaign to ouster the incumbent, too used the chief minister's discretionary quota or the G-category to benefit party workers, family members, friends, drivers and maid servants.

Some of the beneficiaries who gained under the dubious quota are listed below.

Raghavendra Shastry: He is currently officer on special duty to S.M. Krishna. He was allotted land by the Krishna government. The current value of that land is Rs 4.8 crore. It was a personal favour to a man who is a close friend of Krishna's son-in-law.

M.V. Venkatappa: Former assembly speaker and a Congressman, he got prime land worth Rs 2 crore from the Krishna government. The allotment was done in violation of rules as Venkatappa already owned Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) allotted land and hence did not qualify.

Rajeev Gowda: The son of former assembly speaker Venkatappa, he was allotted land worth Rs 1.6 crore by the Krishna government. Probably he was he favoured due to his father's close ties with Krishna.

Priyadarshini: Dharam Singh's daughter, she was given land worth Rs 2 crore during her father's tenure as the chief minister. She was allotted land even when she did not meet the eligibility criteria.

Sannamma: Dharam Singh's maid servant, she was allotted 4,000 square feet plot. She too did not qualify as per the eligibility criteria.M.K. Priyank: Son of Union Labour Minister Mallikarjun Kharge, he got land worth Rs 2 crore during the Dharam Singh government. His father was a minister in that regime.

R. Roshan Baig: He is a Congress MLA who was given land worth Rs 2 crore by Kumaraswamy. Baig already owned land in the Electronic City and hence did not qualify for this allotment.M.T. Krishnappa: A JD(S) MLA, he was allotted land worth Rs 1.2 crore by the Kumaraswamy government. His affidavit shows that he already has two plots in Bangalore.

In Kumaraswamy's tenure things got so out of hand that the BDA almost ran out of land for allotments. That ways, Yeddyurappa was right. He is not alone.

Taint on judge probing scamIn fact, such is the rot that even the man appointed to probe the irregularities is tainted. Justice B. Padmaraj, a retired Karnataka High Court judge, was in 2007 was indicted by a joint legislature committee along with 84 other judges for owning plots in society declared illegal by the BDA.

The society for judicial employees, the committee said, was formed by unleashing a tsunami of scandals.

BJP relieved by exposeThe expos comes as a respite to the BJP and the party continued with its backing to the embattled chief minister of Karnataka.

Reacting to the expose, BJP spokesperson Nirmala Seetharaman said, "We are very clear that instead of impulsively responding to it the government there has instituted a judicial enquiry. It will go into the details of case and we will take a call after that."

"The chief minister himself has been repeatedly saying that he has not done anything out of the way and not done anything that his predecessors have not done. So in a way, the Tehelka expos really underlines what Yeddyurappa has been claiming," she said.

Get real-time alerts and all the news on your phone with the all-new India Today app. Download from